pbs station from viewers like you. attenborough: for me, as for countless others, the natural world is the greatest of all treasures, and yet in my lifetime we have damaged it more severely than in the whole of the rest of human history. indeed, significant parts of it now are in danger of total destruction. when i first came to borneo in 1956, the rainforest stretched unbroken on either side of the river for hundreds of miles. today, it's very different. just beyond the trees lining the river bank, there is nothing but oil palm plantations, and the forest and all the rich variety of animals and plants that it had once contained, has been destroyed. and yet, as we have transformed the natural world, so our attitudes towards it have changed fundamentally. again and again, i have seen the impoverishment and desolation caused by the way we have ruthlessly taken what we want from the land, no matter what the cost. but i have also seen how the natural world, given just the slightest chance, can manage to survive. and i have met the far-sighted and dedicated conservationists who've labore
